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A Chorus from Corus.

More of a high pitched whine turning into a wounded roar with accompanying steam from the ears than a chorus from Corus. Their voices will be heard – at the next election.

Ms Vera Baird is proud to announce that she wishes to see an end ‘to the outdated assumption’ that the notion that we work 40 hours a week for forty plus weeks over 40 plus years is the top career choice.

Politicians may be pleased to assume that having a full time job for life is an ‘outdated assumption’ – they have handsome retirement packages, long holidays, expenses packages to cover the basic cost of living, leaving their wages free to spend as they wish – but I don’t fancy her chances of convincing the little people who were happy to toil in the steel furnaces of Corus until they got sold down the river in exchange for some ‘carbon credits’ that far from losing their jobs, they have merely been released from an ‘outdated assumption’.

Vera Baird, Solicitor General and lead Minister for the Equality Bill, called for flexible working to become the norm, and an end to the outdated assumption that the 40/40/40 model – where we work forty plus hours per week, for forty plus weeks, over forty plus years – is the top career choice.

“It is time to move our labour market assumptions on into the modern era.”

Naturally this is being presented as all for the cheeeldren – so that everyone can take their share at looking after them – absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the government having stood by whilst all the full time work for those ‘oop North’ disappeared down the drain.

Equally naturally, ‘Anon’ will be along very shortly to tell me that I am being unfair to Ms Baird who is only trying to help, and who never, never, absolutely never, reads this web site – there is a ghost logged in to Ms Baird’s parliamentary computer who does it for her, a ghost who apparently has no idea how efficient Statcounter is……..

Look here Ms R – we have , oh, at least 147 jobs this week and 3.8M people to fill them. Of course I am interested in the welfare of the nation which is why it is good for people to be flexible. After all MPs have given a very long lead in how to be flexible – flexible with how hard we work, flexible on what we call expenses, flexible with our living arrangements – hell, if stupid MPs can do it then so can everybody else …… love and kisses V

1327February 10, 2010 at 09:23

Its interesting there does seem to be a little re education campaign on this theme going on at the moment. A number of fake charities have carried out “studies” that show we all want to work longer and indeed look forward to dropping dead while working part time on the late night shift at McDonalds aged 90. These studies have been reported with great enthusiasm by the BBC (what a surprise) and now we are moving to the third stage of the campaign which is a junior minister promoting something the people obviously want.

Goebels would be proud of it.

SaulFebruary 10, 2010 at 10:41

Well, there are plenty in Ms Baird’s area who have managed to escape from the vicious 40\40\40 model. Unfortunately it hasn’t been by choice.

AlanFebruary 10, 2010 at 11:06

40/40/40 what tosh. From the same people that brought you carbon emissions that sound good – 20/20 (20% less than 1990 output by 2020) and 50/50 (50% less than 1990 output by 2050) and sod the practicalities of achieving it.

When people have stopped laughing at the idea of people who only work 40 weeks a year, can’t we get beyond specious slogans? Government policy should not be in the hands of marketing people.

Besides which I’ve come up with a better one: 40/50/65 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, until you are 65. Or for the self-employed: 80/52/dead.

It’s a typical political canard though. 40/40/40 is not an outdated assumption because no one was daft enough to assume it. Spouting doublespeak as the starting point of political discourse has been the order of the day for a decade or more.

JohnRSFebruary 10, 2010 at 11:18

The only “outdated assumption” I can see is that we need leeches like Ms Vera Baird sucking our blood.

Why doesnt she just go an get a “proper job”? The kind where you have to do a full days work for a full days pay and can’t steal as much again from your customers in so-called expenses.

tomfiglioFebruary 10, 2010 at 11:29

Don’t get sentimental about Corus workers. Their unions and managements negotiated unsustainable pay deals in the 1980s, and now we’re seeing the result. The steelworkers were well paid and well treated. Now they’re getting plenty of help retraining and finding new jobs, and will receive handsome redundancy or retirement packages. As a self-employed person I can’t afford any of this.

Fed up with BairdFebruary 10, 2010 at 12:10

Vera Baird (aka Vera Taylor-Gooby) the public school educated Barrister (specialising in sex cases) never was much interested in the poor jerks in her constituency. Her goal was to bring in as many ultra feminist mysandrist laws as possible. It was her behind the no anonimity for alleged rapists (even if acquited), the dangerous pictures section of the criminal justice act (Martin Salter admitted as much early on in his ‘campaign’), the ban on teenagers kissing (2003 sex offenders act – go read it if you don’t believe me), the reduction in sentencing for women convicted of murdering men and the clampdown on prostitution under the guise of protecting trafficked women (although they couldn’t actually find any). Anybody that has met her generally agree that, while she is clever, she is one of the foulest individuals they’d ever encountered with a wildly over inflated sense of her own worth and an arrogant, dismissive attitude towards anyone that disagrees with her.

Anyway if she’s booted out she doesn’t really care much because she’ll just go back to practising (sexual) law which she’s an expert on because she drafted most of it. Mind you the pussy whipped wimps in Redcar will still vote for her next time despite the fact she helped shaft them.

I’ve never wished cancer on anyone but with her I’ll make an exception.

BlinkFebruary 10, 2010 at 12:27

have to agree with you FuwB – well done – been watching that other clown, Brown, at PMQs – had enough, he’s totally delusional and full of bananas

No, I am perfectly well aware you are not Vera. Vera has commented on this blog before, from her parliament computer, which is how I come to have her IP address. You, however, have a completely different IP address, from a completely different address, so I know that you are not Vera. You do come out of the starting blog like a greyhound every time I mention her, which makes me think that your only interest in this blog is monitoring her image.

PT BarnumFebruary 10, 2010 at 19:45

“Or for the self-employed: 80/52/dead.”

Made me laugh! Even though, at the moment, it’s 5 to 95/52/straitjacketed.

AnonFebruary 11, 2010 at 15:29

“You do come out of the starting blog like a greyhound every time I mention her.”

Either that or I’ve commented here two — now make that three — times.

I monitor a lot of politics and challenge lazy-thinking and over-simplifcation wherever I find it… When I can be bothered…